


Copycorg Rising

by nachonaco



Category: Incredibles (Pixar Movies), The Incredibles (2004)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Copycorg, F/F, F/M, Helen gets a backstory, Original Character(s), canon adjacent, canon compliant (to a point)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-07-12 12:29:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15995252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nachonaco/pseuds/nachonaco
Summary: The Incredibles weren't the only ones affected by the super ban.  Follow the story of Mimi "Copycorg" Truax as she navigates a world where supers have become illegalized just as she comes of age, her adventures against the Omnidroid, and more.  Updates Saturdays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.





	1. Paw-logue

**Author's Note:**

> Well, everyone in Hevelyn Heaven, here it is! The fic I never stopped talking about. Hahaha! Hope it was worth the wait! As usual, I don't own anything you all would recognize. I do, however, own Mimi "Copycorg" Truax.

            “And we’re live in five, four, three, two, one…”

            Copycorg took a deep breath as she fluffed out the red hair that spilled out from her cowl and ran a hand along the red-orange ears on the crown of her head. She heard the fanfare of the Chad Tonight theme and straightened up in her seat, a polite smile on her face as she listened to the newscaster give his opening spiel.

            “Thanks to the efforts of famed superhero Elastigirl, superheroes are legal again. It’s been a long time in the making, but inquiring minds want to know: what was it like to grow up in the shadows of anti-super legislation?” Chad began. “With me tonight is New Urbem’s own Copycorg.”

            Copycorg smiled and waved to the camera. “Hello,” she said shyly, racking her brain for the last time she had been interviewed. She swallowed. “Good evening, everyone. Hi.” She blinked.

            “So, Copycorg – you’re one of the younger set of supers. Not quite as young as…say, the Incredible children, but…”

            Copycorg laughed along with Chad. “No, definitely not – I’ll be thirty later this year,” she explained as she uncapped her water bottle, taking a sip of her drink before she twisted the cap back on. “I’m what the NSA calls ‘intermediary’ – we’re not quite rookies like the, uh, the DevTech Six, but, uh, we’re not quite pro either.”

            “So, based off your age, you likely had some experiences on the field before the ban passed. Is that right?”

            “Yeah,” Copycorg answered. “I didn’t have very much experience because my…mentor…didn’t want me out on the field too much.”

            “A smart decision on their part. And who was your mentor?”

            “Elastigirl.”

            The audience gasped and clapped wildly.

            “Impressive! You must have been excited to see she was the forefront of hero legalization.”

            “Yes, I was,” Copycorg said through a laugh.

            “But enough about her, I wanna talk about you.”

            Copycorg couldn’t help but laugh again – she’d heard a similar line from him when he had interviewed Elastigirl.

            “What was it like growing up…for lack of a better word, illegal?”

            “It was…it was fine,” Copycorg answered after a moment. “I had friends, I had a great boyfriend. I got good grades, studied hard…”

            “Did any of them know about your secret identity?”

            Copycorg chewed her lip. If Elastigirl was watching this, she’d have her head. “Yes,” she admitted. “I only ever told…one person who I was.”

            “And how did they react?”

            “Surprise. He kissed me when he found out. Said he was gonna start a fan club.”

            “And what did you tell him?”

            “’Please don’t’!” Copycorg exclaimed, hiding a smile behind her gloved hand.

            “Did he anyway?”

            “As far as I know, no. After I told him…he moved. I never knew where he went,” she answered. “My aunt never told me, and I don’t know that she knew.”

            “So you were raised by your aunt?”

            “Sort of. I was raised by my grandparents, but I called them Mom and Dad. My aunt and I are close in age, so when she moved out, I went with her and my uncle. I didn’t take the separation well when she left to fly planes in the Air Force.”

            “Is she a super too?”

            “I thought this interview was about me,” Copycorg teased. “C’mon, Chad.”

            Now it was his turn to laugh. “Fair, fair,” he said. “Have you had any contact with them lately?”

            Copycorg shook her head. “No,” she said sadly. “I haven’t spoken to them in years. We had a big fight and…I can’t bring myself to go back home.”

            “All right – if you could say one thing to your aunt and uncle, what would it be?”

            “There’s so much more than just one thing, Chad.”

            He smiled kindly at her, and Copycorg returned the smile.

            “Thanks for joining us tonight,” he said. “I’m sure you have a long night to get through.”

            “Yes, I’m actually due for patrol, but thank you for having me,” she returned. She smiled and shook Chad’s hand before she left the stage, heading out into the New Urbem night. She looked around the alley she had parked in, half-expecting to see a cop or a thug out to stop her. She cautiously stepped toward the white motorcycle with red accents, the black-and-white ‘EG’ logo visible on the bike’s engine.

            Copycorg mounted the bike and put the key in the ignition, looking up at the sky. “Please start, please start, please start,” she begged the old machine. She exhaled with sharp relief as the bike roared to life and she sped off into the street.

* * *

           If there was one thing to be said about heroics during the night shift, it was the peace of night afterward. She’d heard once that New Urbem was a superhero’s playground, and there were plenty to take her place. One night of missed patrol might have irritated her mentor back in the day, but times were different now. So instead of patrol, Copycorg simply snuck back into her apartment via the fire escape. As she climbed through the window and turned on the bedside lamp, a trio of corgis immediately harangued her. “Hey, hey, guys, guys, calm down, Mommy’s home,” she said with a laugh. “Sunbeam, Wonder, Sara Lee, get down. You’ll get fur on the suit!” She lowered her cowl, letting it cascade down her back. She took off her gloves and boots and placed them in a trunk at the foot of her bed, and the suit itself quickly followed.

            With Copycorg retired for the night, there was only Mimi, standing in a white tank top with orange stripes and orange shorts.

            The woman sat at the desk in the corner of her room, where a composition book already waited for her. She opened it to the last empty page – the last page of that particular notebook, in fact – and began to write.

            _Hey Helen_ ,

            _I had my first interview today. Well, first non-NSA interview, anyway. Do you remember when I was a kid and you said you’d be there with me? I wish you could have been. It’s all my fault.   I told Chad there was so much I wanted to say to you, and there is. I don’t know if you can ever forgive me for what I’ve done, or for the fact that I’ve been gone for so long. I want to come home. I miss you and Bob and Violet – and I want to get to know Dash and Jack-Jack, too. Sometimes I think about the fight we had and I wonder if you’ve told them about me. I don’t know if Vi remembers me._

_Hel, I miss you so damn much. I want to pick up the phone and call you, but Dicker said the program’s shut down. I don’t know if you know, but I work for the New Urbem office. They actually let me handle one of your relocations once – before they realized who you were to me. Oops. Probably shouldn’t have let myself slip through the cracks like that. You always did tell me to be careful. Where was that Helen when she was fighting a giant robot in the middle of Metroville? Yeah, don’t think I didn’t see that just because I don’t live on the east coast._

_Hero work is going well. I stopped a couple of kidnappers last week, trying to abduct a little boy in the park. I was walking the dogs at the time – so nobody noticed a fourth corgi (fourgi? Ha ha! Couldn’t resist) running around the park. I stayed with him until the cops came. I know, I know, you’re used to me getting cats out of trees. What can I say, barking works._

_I’m running out of room and I can’t hit the store until tomorrow morning to continue this so…_

_I love you. Always._

_And I’ll always be your Shadow._

            With a heavy sigh, Mimi waited for the ink on the page to dry and then shut the book, taking it in her hands. She stuck out her foot, hooking it around a memory box. She looked at the label: ‘LETTERS TO HELEN - 1962’ and opened the box before she slid the notebook in, wedging it in the only empty space in the back.

            “Good night, Helen,” she whispered as she closed the box. “C’mon, doggies, time for bed.”


	2. We Have To Adapt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The newest member of the Truax family is found.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well guys, here it is. A little off-schedule, which I apologize for, but there's gonna be some Hevelyn action going on in another fic of mine tonight (or tomorrow) to make up for it.
> 
> See y'all for Chapter 2 (or 3 if you count the prologue!) and enjoy Chapter 1 (or 2 if you count the prologue!)

**Marietta, Georgia, 1937**

            Helen Truax tapped her pencil against the sheet of scratch paper, trying to work out a particularly difficult math problem. She tucked a lock of rust-colored hair behind her ear as she concentrated. “C’mon,” she murmured. “You’ve got this.” As she was working out the math, the phone rang. Helen breathed a sigh of relief – finally, a break – and extended her arm to reach the far-away phone. She answered it. “Truax residence, Helen speaking, who’s calling, please?” she greeted.

            “Oh, it’s you, freak.”

            The hand holding the phone shook violently. “A-Abby?” Helen asked. She hadn’t heard from her sister in almost five years. “Is that you?”

            “Jesus, did being born with superpowers mess with your brain? Yes, it’s me. Is Dad home?”

            “I- Yeah. Yeah, he is, what do you need? He’s in the barn.”

            “Just go get him.”

            Helen stood up and set the phone down near the receiver and ran out to the barn. “Hey, Pop!” she called as she neared the door. “Abby’s on the phone!”

            Peter Truax looked up from the tractor he was fixing. “Abby?” he asked, sounding as equally confused as his youngest daughter was. “Haven’t heard from her in years- why would she-“

            Helen followed her father back into the house, the blue porch steps creaking under her weight. She slid her hands into her pockets, leaning against the door as she listened to her father talk.

            “Abby, honey, slow down- no, she isn’t-“ Peter exhaled sharply and covered his eyes with his hand. “Abby. Look, it’s not her fault. She can’t help who she is, what she… I raised you better, don’t you dare call your daughter that.”

            Helen gasped. She was an aunt? Her sister had a daughter?

            What else hadn’t she told the family?

            “Yeah, honey,” Peter said softly into the phone. “I can…I can head out there by the end of the week. See you then.” He hung up the phone and Helen relaxed as he walked toward her. “Hey, Hel,” he said, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. “You, uh, you still got that Dicker guy’s number?”

            “Yeah,” Helen said with a nod. “Why?”

            “Your sister’s kid has powers. And…Abby doesn’t…want her.”

            “What? What kind of-”

            “Abby said she was a mimic. Said the dog touched her and then boom…the kid just turned…into a dog herself.”

            Helen stared, wide-eyed. “So she’s…”

            “A super. Like you.”

            “That’s so neat!” Helen exclaimed, beaming. “Yeah, let me go ahead and get his number for you.” With her heart racing, Helen ran out of the kitchen and upstairs and into her bedroom, reaching up onto the top bunk – the bottom bunk had been Abby’s before she moved out – and under the pillow for the well-worn piece of paper. She couldn’t believe it.

            There were others in the family like her.

* * *

 

            Three days later they were on the road, and Helen swallowed nervously. She still hadn’t digested the fact that she wasn’t the only super in her family. “Pop?” she asked.

            “Yeah, Hel?”

            “Are we really going to take her in?”

            “Yeah.”

            “I hope she likes it.”

            “I’m sure she will,” her father answered. “I mean, she’s gonna have your mom and me, you…she’ll have nothing to worry about.”

            Helen smiled and relaxed, sinking back into her seat. “I’m glad we’re going to get her,” she said.

            “Me too. Your sister…”

            “Why does she hate supers, anyway?”

            “If I had to guess, it’s jealousy.”

            “But no one else in the family has powers.”

            “Yeah, and then she grew up having to watch you be…you, and she…” Peter groaned. “Hel, I’m gonna be honest with you. Abby…isn’t a good person. You’re twenty times the kid she was already, and I’m so proud of you.” He tousled her hair, and Helen laughed. “I can’t believe you’re fourteen already. Soon you’ll be growing up…moving out…maybe doing some of your own hero work.”

            “Yeah right,” Helen said.

            “No, I believe it. You could be anyone you want to be. If that’s a hero, that’s a hero. If that’s helping your mom and me on the farm, then it is.”

            “How much longer ‘til we get there?”

            “Not much longer, honey,” Peter answered gently as he pointed to the ‘Welcome to Atlanta’ sign. “Just gotta get in here and find her complex. I think she lives downtown.” He glanced down at the address in his hand, his other gripping the steering wheel tightly. “Let me know when you see Peachtree Street,” he said.

            “Found it.”

            They parked off the street and looked at the building.

            “Ready to go inside, hellion?” Peter asked, his hand on her shoulder as they stepped out of the truck’s cab.

            Helen chuckled at the nickname. “Yeah.”

            They walked in, looking at the landlord as he stood by the reception desk, looking bored. “You the Truaxes?” he asked. “Been expecting you. Name’s Toby Kenik.”

            Peter nodded gravely, his hand still on Helen’s shoulder. Helen looked uncertainly at the man, unnerved by just how quiet and eerie the apartment building was. The landlord stepped out from behind the desk and wiped his hand on his Atlanta Crackers jersey before he extended it to Peter. “I’m the landlord, nice to meetcha.”

            Helen bit her lip – she wasn’t sure what to make of this man. He seemed nice enough, but there was something about him she couldn’t put her finger on. “Which one is Abigail Truax’s apartment?”

            “Third floor, number nine,” the landlord answered.

            “Do you know if she’s home?”

            “I don’t,” Toby replied. “She usually keeps to herself, but we haven’t heard anything from her in a few days. We usually hear something from the kid, but, uh…she stopped making noises about a day and a half ago. We’ve been pushing her food through the mail slot, but we dunno if she’s been takin’ it.”

            Peter had already started up the stairwell, and Helen looked at Toby.

            “I can go with ya if ya want,” Toby offered as he slid a key off the hook. “She may’ve locked it.”

            He quickly passed Peter on the stairs while Helen brought up the rear, racing towards the third-floor apartment. “You guys haven’t had much contact with her since she moved out, huh?”

            Helen shook her head. “Nah. My sister isn’t the type,” she said softly, and leaned her head into her father’s side as he squeezed her shoulder.

            “Yeah, I’m not surprised. I really only see her when she comes down to pay rent. Other than that…” He paused as he reached apartment 309 and exhaled. He jiggled the handle, but it was locked.

            “Pop?” Helen asked as she pointed to the mail slot. “Can I…”

            “Go ahead,” Peter answered with a nod.

            Helen stepped forward and extended her arm, biting her lip as she did so. It was definitely nerve-wracking doing it in front of someone she didn’t know, but she kept extending her arm. She felt something furry. “I feel her, but I’m not sure if it’s…her or if it’s their actual dog.” She pressed her body closer to the door and extended her arm further. “Okay, I can feel skin,” she said. “I- OW!” Helen seethed and quickly withdrew her hand, revealing a shallow bite mark. “What the- she bit me!”

            “She’s probably scared, honey,” Peter explained gently. “Just…try to unlock the door.”

            Helen used her other hand and held the injured one close to her chest, extending only as far as she needed to raise her hand up towards the locks. She unlocked the door and nodded toward Toby as she retracted her hand. “Go ahead,” she said.

            What they were confronted with was worse than Helen could have ever pictured.

            There was a girl sitting in the middle of the floor, hiding behind a dog with squat legs and big ears.

            “Mimi, sweetie?” Toby asked. “Hey, honey, c’mere. It’s okay. Remember me, Uncle Toby?”

            The girl crawled over to him.

            “She can’t walk?” Helen asked. “Is she-”

            “We think she’s just weak,” Toby said. “I’ve definitely seen her walk. She’s pretty active most of the time.”

            Helen wordlessly picked the girl – her niece – up and held her close.

            “Sunbeam,” the girl whispered.

            “What?” Helen asked softly.

            “Sunbeam.”

            The dog barked and Helen looked at it. “Oh, uh…Pop?” she asked. “I think she’s talking about the dog.”

            “We’ll take the dog home, too.” Peter ruffled the girl’s hair and picked the dog up. “C’mon. Toby, thanks for your help.”


	3. Little Patch of Heaven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mimi settles in to farm life.

            “Stand still, c’mon,” Peter said jokingly as he placed his hand on his granddaughter’s shoulder. “Mimi, seriously, you can’t keep squirming, I’ll end up accidentally stabbing you with the knife. I know you’re excited and you wanna go help Helen with her chores, but-“

            “I’m done!” Helen called as she entered the house and ran up the stairs.

            Mimi smiled at her. She’d only been with her family for two days, but she knew it was going to be different. Helen smiled warmly at her and ruffled her hair, and Mimi gasped as a surge of energy coursed through her body and-

            “She really is a mimic,” Peter and Helen whispered at the same time. Mimi opened her eyes, and when she did – she was Helen’s height, able to look her aunt directly in the eye. She smiled, then frowned as she reverted back to her normal height and appearance.

            “I…There really is another super in the family.” Helen laughed and scooped Mimi up into her arms. “I can’t believe it.”

            “Helen! Put me down!” Mimi gasped out as she wriggled. “You’re squishing me!”

            “Pop, can I take her out to the barn? Please?” Helen begged. “I wanna show her how to use my powers!”

            “Yeah,” Peter said with a chuckle. “Make sure you show her how to do your chores, too,” he reminded her gently. “Your mom and I are gonna start her on chores tomorrow. Easy stuff. Like getting the eggs…that kind of thing.”

            “Eggs?” Mimi asked.

            “Yeah, we’re more than just a dairy farm,” Helen explained. “We have a few chickens too. C’mon. They’re pretty nice, you’ll like ‘em.”

            They walked out to the barn together, and Mimi tried to copy Helen’s mannerisms. She studied her aunt, lower lip stuck out in a thoughtful pout and Helen laughed and ruffled her curly hair. “Hey, what are you, my shadow?”

            “Am not,” Mimi mumbled, hiding her hands behind her back.

            “Yeah, you are,” Helen said as she drew the girl close to her. “That’s gonna be your nickname now, okay? I’m gonna call you Shadow.”

            “’Kay,” Mimi said softly as Helen swiftly scooped her up once more, putting her on her shoulders as they neared the barn.

            “We don’t keep the chickens here,” Helen explained. “Just the feed. Hang on tight, I don’t want you falling off.”

            “I won’t,” Mimi said with a pout.

            “Famous last words,” Helen teased as she hoisted up a big burlap sack of chicken feed. Mimi watched her, unable to believe how strong Helen was.

            “Wow, that looks heavy.”

            “Weighs about as much as you do,” Helen said with a grunt. “Maybe a little more.”

            Mimi nodded.

            “You still holding on?” she asked. “Hey, watch this.” She extended her arm around the bag of feed and stuck two fingers in her mouth, whistling. Mimi turned her head as she heard barking start, and Sunbeam poked his head out from a pile of hay in the barn. “I started teaching him that when you got here,” Helen explained. “Little guy catches on quick.”

            Sunbeam barked and pawed at Mimi’s leg.

            “Helen, lemme down,” Mimi said.

            “All right, fine.”

            Helen set Mimi down. Mimi laughed and reached out to pet Sunbeam, smiling widely at her dog. “Good boy, good boy, good boy, Sunbeam,” she praised through her laughter. The dog began to lick her.

            “Hey, Mimi, think you can use your powers again?” Helen asked. “Let’s see if you can mimic him.”

            Mimi nodded and concentrated. This was different than when Helen touched her, she knew. It was a familiar sensation, absolutely warm and fuzzy and safe. She closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was on all fours, close to the ground, and Helen was grinning widely at her.

            “That’s so cool!” She laughed. “You look just like him. Well, the red parts of your fur are a bit redder than his.”

            Mimi laughed – but it came out as a bark - and trotted out of the barn with Helen.

            “All right – see that building there?” Helen asked, pointing to a small hut.

            Mimi nodded.

            “That’s the chicken coop. So what I’m gonna have you and Sunbeam do is…” Helen flipped over the latch out of its hook and gestured for Mimi and Sunbeam to enter. “Round up the chickens so I can get their eggs.”

            Mimi tried to speak, but no words formed. It reminded her of when her mother would stuff a rag in her mouth the first time she transformed – when she turned into Sunbeam for the first time. Mimi whimpered – the only noise she could make – and backed up, head bowed as she leaned down and covered her eyes with her paws.

            “Mimi?” Helen asked. “What’s wrong? Hey, are you okay?”

            Mimi only whimpered again. She didn’t like not being able to talk.

            “Do you wanna change back?”

            Mimi shook her head and got up, trotting into the henhouse with Sunbeam. She turned her head when the dog barked, and followed his lead. She perked up her ears in surprise when two of the chickens immediately made a beeline for her. She ran out of the henhouse on all fours before she transformed back, running as fast as her human legs would carry her. “HELEN! HELEN! HELEN!” she cried out, climbing back up on the teenager’s back.

            “What on earth did you-“

            Mimi shakily pointed to a dark brown hen.

            “Aww, Cocoa,” Helen whispered. “You’re scared of Cocoa? She wouldn’t hurt anybody. She’s a real sweetheart-“

            Mimi shook her head. “I wanna go back inside.”

            “All right, well, Pop said you had to know how to get eggs and…I guess that’s close enough,” Helen said. She reached up and patted Mimi on the head.

* * *

           That night, Mimi settled into bed, safe and sound under the thick quilt on her mother’s old bed. She looked out the window, able to see an old tree with a tire swing. She shifted herself so that she was lying on her side when rain began to fall, followed by a flash of bright light and the crash of thunder. She whimpered and curled up into a ball, shivering under the blanket.

            Then, as she was trying to calm herself, something looped around her torso.

            Helen’s arm.

            Mimi didn’t protest as Helen slowly and gently lifted her up into the top bunk, snuggling tightly against her. “It’s okay, Shadow,” she whispered. “You’re safe. I’m gonna protect you, okay?”


	4. Leave the Saving of the World to the Men?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helen's first visit to the NSA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy cow, I'm uploading a chapter on the right day for once.

            Helen stirred awake the next morning, unsure why there was a sudden pain in her ribs. She opened her eyes and glanced down, finding the peacefully-sleeping form of her little niece, her chest rising and falling – and her elbow digging into Helen’s chest. She gently patted Mimi on the back. “Hey, Shadow,” she whispered. “G’morning. Wake up.”

            “Don’t wanna get up.”

            “Yeah, well, neither do I,” Helen conceded. “C’mon. We got chores.”

            She got up and climbed down the ladder, placing her hands on her hips. “Don’t make me pull you down here. You know I can,” she said in a stern tone. She was rewarded with the view of her niece curling up under the heavy quilt, her thick red hair disappearing as she burrowed.

            “Mimi…” Helen sighed. She climbed back up on the bed and sat cross-legged next to the lump under the quilt. “Hey,” she said, putting her hand where she guessed Mimi’s shoulder might be. “What’s wrong, are you okay?”

            “I don’t wanna be a corgi anymore,” Mimi whispered.

            Helen sighed and gently ran a hand along Mimi’s back. “Hey. It’s okay. How about you and I do something else today?” she asked. “Do you like stories?”

            “Stories?” Mimi asked. “What’s that?”

            Helen gasped and put a hand to her mouth. What had this kid been put through? She walked over to the corner of their room and pulled out an old, dusty book from one of the wooden milk crates. She looked at the faded cover with its golden spine and smiled. Mimi was going to love this.

            “Hey, scooch over,” Helen said as she climbed back into the top bunk. “You wanna read this with me? It’s cute, you’ll like it.” She looked at the book - her chores could wait. Her niece needed some cheering up. Her niece needed her.

            “’Kay.”

            Mimi didn’t seem convinced, but she came out from hiding regardless. Helen cleared her throat as she began to read.

            “’Here’s a story on how strange is life with its changes, and it happened not long ago’,” Helen began. “’On a high mountain plain, where the sagebrush arranges: a playground south of the snow, lived a lamb with a coat of remarkable sheen; it would glint in the sunlight all sparkly and clean’.”

            She smiled and turned the book closer to Mimi, who snuggled closer to her, and continued. “’Such a source of great pride that it caused him to preen’,” Helen said, then paused. “Can you read the next bit, Shadow?” she asked.

            Mimi shook her head. “Dunno how.”

            Helen’s face faltered. “Okay, so, you have this word right here, it’s an easy one. ‘And’. See?” She ran her finger along the word, watching as her niece stared at it in awe.

            “’And’,” Mimi repeated.

            “Good! ‘He’d break out’…”

            “’He’d break out’…”

            “’In high-step-and-dance’.”

            “’In high-step-and-dance.”

            “Awesome! Man, you are pickin’ this up quick, Shadow!”

            Mimi smiled up at her, and Helen’s heart melted. She ruffled the girl’s hair.

            They continued to read the book, and Helen couldn’t believe how quickly Mimi was picking up reading. She smiled down at her. “Hey, wanna go somewhere with me today?” she asked. “I gotta go into town for this thing.”

            “What thing?” Mimi asked.

            “It’s a super thing. I’m gonna register to be a hero!” Helen grinned. “Won’t that be great? You’re gonna get to see me do all sorts of heroic things – and that’ll be you someday, too!”

            “Really?” Mimi asked. “You think I could?”

            “Absolutely! With your mimicry ability – if you practice really hard – I bet you could be one of the best supers the world’s ever seen!”

            “Do you know any other supers?”

            “Well, no, uh, not yet. But Agent Dicker told me once that when I register, I’m gonna get assigned a hero to work under.”

            “Really?”

            “Uh huh! He says that supers are regulated-“ when Mimi looked confused, Helen clarified for her. “-oh, it means, uh, y’know, watched over.” Helen rubbed the back of her neck nervously. “You know what I mean?”

            “Uh huh!”

            She grinned. “You’re a pretty smart kid, you know that? All right, c’mon, let’s get dressed.”

* * *

            Theresa Truax watched as her daughter and granddaughter left the house. “Perfect,” she mused sarcastically. “They’ve left the chores for me to do today.”

            “Go easy on them,” Peter said from his chair at the table as he read the newspaper. “Mimi just got here, and Helen works hard. They deserve a break. They’re just kids, after all. Don’t be so hard on them.”

            “It’s not just that,” Theresa said. “When I was cleaning their room…waiting for you to get back with Mimi…I found pamphlets about the National Supers Agency.”

            “So the girl wants to register,” Peter said. “It’s not a big deal. She’s fourteen, she needs to figure out what she wants in life.”

            “What she needs is to stay here on the farm. You won’t live forever, you know.”

            “Yeah, I know,” he acquiesced. “But if she doesn’t want to-“

            “We have no other option. Abby’s gone. You wanted the farm. Someone has to take care of it when we’re gone.”

            “Theresa, let Helen register as a super. She may not even want to be a hero. She may just want to register to meet other supers.”

            “She’s already met other supers.”

            “Mimi doesn’t count. She’s still a kid.”

            Theresa exhaled. “Fine.” She went back to washing the dishes that she was working on. As she looked out the window, she saw Helen riding her bike out past the gate, with Mimi resting on the handlebars.

* * *

           Helen smiled and ruffled Mimi’s hair as she parked her bike near Agent Dicker’s car. The man smiled warmly at her, and she smiled back. “Hey,” she greeted. “This is my niece, Mimi,” she introduced. She laughed as Mimi shyly waved at the man. “She tags along, kinda like my shadow.”

            “All right, well, nice to meet ya, Mimi,” Dicker said, extending his hand toward the young girl. Helen gently nudged her.

            “You gotta extend your hand and put it in his,” she explained quietly, and beamed when Mimi did so.

            “Now that I’ve met her, too…let’s go ahead and get you out to the NSA office in Atlanta.”

            Helen nodded. She climbed into the car, and gestured for Mimi to follow. When she did, Dicker shut the door behind them, rapping a knuckle on the partition that separated them from the car’s driver.

            “So when you pre-register, Helen, there’s gonna be a bit of a probationary period. In all likelihood, because of your age, you either won’t see any action at all or you’ll be a sidekick. Would that be all right?”

            “Yeah!”

            “And, in time, your niece could be your sidekick. Typically there are…rules about family members apprenticing under one another, but rules can be bent.” She studied Rick as he leaned back in his seat. “But that’s a long ways away from now.”

            Helen nodded.

            “Today, though, you’re gonna meet your mentor. Real nice lady, her hero name is Lady Volant. Aerokinesis.”

            Helen placed a hand on Mimi’s shoulder as she started to squirm.

            “What’s aeroki-“ the girl asked, and Helen looked down at her before she looked at Rick, unsure herself.

            “Aerokinesis, means she can…fly, basically,” Agent Dicker explained. “Without using a plane or anything.”

            “Wow,” Mimi whispered, and Helen whistled.

            The trip to the NSA office was short, and Helen was thankful for that. She was the first one out of the car, followed by Mimi, who scrambled after her and clung to her, then Agent Dicker.

            The building itself was rather small and squat, much less intimidating than Helen thought it might be. She swallowed and walked up the three short steps into the building after Dicker, somewhat encumbered by the fact that her niece was holding onto her for dear life. Helen chuckled softly. “Excited, huh? Me too,” she said, and once again swiftly put her niece on her shoulders. “C’mon. Let’s see.”

            They stopped in the lobby, where a woman with a red costume with white accents waited for them. There was a pair of wings, like an angel’s, on her chest in the shape a V. “Lady Volant,” Dicker said. “This is Helen Truax – your biggest fan.”

            Helen wondered why Dicker had chosen such a term. She’d never heard of this woman before today, so why was she her biggest fan?

            “Oh!” A small smile of faked recognition crossed the hero’s features, and Helen smiled back. “Yes, I’ve heard about you. C’mon.” She nudged the shoulder of a man who stood next to her. “C’mon, Snug, you too,” she said.

            “Right away, dear,” the man replied.


	5. Be Brave, Little One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helen starts hero work, and Mimi discovers she may be different.

“Helen, wait up! I have little legs!” Mimi called out as she followed her aunt through the Atlanta office of the National Supers Agency. Helen was following Lady Volant, and Mimi could barely catch up to her. She had spent the past year racing Helen, and she’d grown faster and faster as the months progressed – but she still was no match for her aunt.  
  
“You’re gonna love it, Helen, I promise. You’ve done so well on your practical exams and your theory exams – I’m really proud of you,” Lady Volant said. Mimi watched as the super put her hand on Helen’s shoulder, and she grinned. She liked Snug and his wife – and they seemed to like her too.

Mimi watched as Helen nodded, and the three of them walked into a small room.  
  
“It’s time you put everything you’ve learned to reality.” She smiles. “You’re now officially my sidekick.”  
  
“Really?!” Helen exclaimed. She hugged her tightly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She pulled away and saluted her mentor. “I promise I won’t let you down!”  
  
Mimi looked at the suit, and squinted her eyes. It didn’t look all that special to her – yellow and blue and gray – it looked strange. She cocked her head.  
  
“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Helen asked.

“Your suit. The colors look weird.”

“Mimi, it’s red and white. It’s fine.”

“Red…and white?” Mimi cocked her head.

Lady Volant studied the children before her. “You know,” she said. “Don’t you turn into a dog, Mimi? You might be colorblind, even as a human.”

“Color…colorblind?”

“It means you can’t see certain colors,” Helen explained.

“Wow,” Mimi said softly.

“Do you think that could affect her being a hero when she’s older?” Helen asked. Mimi looked up at her aunt as Helen put a hand on her shoulder. Helen looked worried, and Mimi wondered if she should be worried too. Mimi frowned. She wanted to be a hero. She wanted to be like Helen and Lady Volant.

“It might,” Lady Volant admitted. “But who knows?” She ruffled Helen’s hair, and Mimi couldn’t help but giggle when Snug ruffled hers too. She closed her eyes – and tried to think if she’d ever been this happy, ever had this much fun.

“Oh my gosh! Mimi!” Helen exclaimed. “Y-You…”

Mimi felt something grow on either side of the top of her head. She gasped and felt the top, feeling fuzzy corgi ears appear.

“You partially transformed!”

Mimi twitched her ears. “Wow…” She didn’t know she could do that.

* * *

 

That night, Mimi laid awake in bed. She hugged her burlap jackalope stuffed animal close to her. She smiled at Helen as the older super put her suit away, securing it in a drawer under her overalls and jeans. “It makes sense, right, Shadow?” Helen asked. “I mean, if I’m gonna work as a super, my suit should go with my work clothes. Right?”

“Hey, Helen?”

“Yeah?”

“What if I can’t be a hero?”

“Mimi,” Helen said. “You can be a hero. There’s nothing stopping you.”

Sunbeam barked.

But five-year-old Mimi couldn’t sleep.

Once she heard the soft snoring from the bunk above her – Helen was always quick to fall asleep – Mimi carefully crept out of bed. She wrapped her orange-and-yellow-patterned quilt around her like the cape she hoped to wear as a hero. She crept down the hall, toward her parents’ bedroom. She knew they were her grandparents, but it didn’t matter to her. They loved her for who she was, and everything she could be.

“Pete, honey, I still don’t think having her be a hero with the NSA is a good idea.”

“Theresa, we’ve been over this.”

“We need help around the farm. If she’s doing hero work, she won’t be around to do that, or, God forbid, Peter, she could be…”

“Don’t say that about Helen. She’s strong. And you’ve made her work almost every day since she could stand on her own two feet. You have to imagine what she wants.”

“She’s fifteen! She doesn’t know-“

“She knows. You know what you wanted at fifteen, Resa.”

Mimi pressed her small body against the wall, listening to the old house creak and her future waver.

“And what’s worse – I’m worried she’ll encourage Miriam. It’s not…natural for a child to do what she does. Peter, I’ve pretended to be supportive for her sake, but I can’t do it anymore. That child is a demon.”

“Mimi isn’t a demon.”

“She isn’t human, either.”

“You’re starting to sound like her mother. You know how much Abby hated Helen.”

“Peter, we have to think about what kind of life Mimi will lead. Do you think she’s going to get a husband if she can…can turn into a dog?”

“She’s barely five, Theresa. Give her time to be a kid. Don’t drive her away like you drove Abby away.”

“I’m not driving…” Theresa sighed. “Peter, we don’t know what the future will hold for supers.”

“Supers have existed for millennia, Ther, and they won’t be stopping any time soon.”

“Pop?” Mimi asked as she opened the door slightly. “Can I have a glass of milk?”

“Mimi,” Theresa whispered, a shocked expression on her face.

“Yeah, sweetheart.”

Mimi smiled and tried to forget what she heard Theresa saying as Peter led her to the kitchen.

“So…you probably heard a lot from your grandma n’ me, huh?” Peter asked as he handed Mimi a tall glass of milk and a peanut butter cookie.

“Yeah.”

“You know I don’t believe any of it – and neither does she.”

“She doesn’t?”

Peter shook his head. “Nah. You see, Puppy, people like you and my little hellion are special. And I really think you two are going to be great heroes one day.”

Mimi smiled as she ate her cookie. She dunked the baked good in her glass of milk, watching as rivulets of the drink slid into the thatches of the peanut butter cookie.

“Pop?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you know I can’t see colors?”

“I figured as much. But…you know, Mimi, you shouldn’t let that stop you.  You can do anything.”


End file.
